Last weekend the Grand Prix of France at the circuit of Le Mans was held. It was another Grand Prix of the season 2020 as the season is slowly coming to its end. The whole race weekend was affected with the changing weather and with cold temperatures. On Sunday there were up to 5,000 fans allowed to the grandstands to watch the action. Here is my review.
The action on Friday was affected with the rain and wet track. On Saturday the conditions were quite good and it looked like it would be good and dry also on Sunday. But just some minutes ahead of the MotoGP race some dark clouds arrived and it started to rain. The grid procedure was postponed. The race was declared wet (which means that the riders can choose any tyres and also if the track dries they can switch the bike anytime during the race). However, nobody did this bike switch because the track was wet until the end of the race and there were some light rain showers during the race.
The Championship leader Fabio Quartararo started from pole position but he didn’t have ideal start in these conditions and dropped a few places. There were the Ducati riders who stole the main part of the show. Danilo Petrucci, who also started from the front row, had a good start and went into the lead. Jack Miller and Andrea Dovizioso were behind him. Then there was Quartararo and then there was Pol Espargaró who started from P8.
Already in lap 1 there was an incident which involved a couple of riders. Valentino Rossi crashed and some other riders had to go wide to avoid him. There were the Championship contenders Maverick Viñales and Joan Mir among them. Also Aleix Espargaró went out of track. Francesco Bagnaia had very bad start and he dropped almost at the end of the grid. Also Fabio Quartararo started to lose places, on the other hand Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins seemed to be in a good pace and they started to move places up.
The three Ducatis on top made the race. They were going behind each other, there weren’t any overtaking manoeuvres, at the beginning of the race it was too risky. Danilo Petrucci was leading the race, Andrea Dovizioso and Jack Miller were behind him. Andrea Dovizioso seemed to have a clever ride, being hidden behind his team mate. He managed to get quite close to him and he overtook him. However, this didn’t last long as Petrucci was able to overtake him back. Also he had a good pace, he did good lap times and it looked like it could be his race. So he was leading the race again and he had a good rhythm. But there was another thread. Alex Rins was catching the group quickly. He did some overtakes there, he moved up to P2. Some laps before the race finish Rins had a crash. It meant that there was a gap between Petrucci and the other riders behind him. He showed great performance and he managed everything in a good way to cross the finish line as the winner. There was some amazing scenes in the parc ferme as until now his season 2020 has been full of troubles. He showed great race and the victory was very well deserved.
Alex Márquez, the rookie, had great start from P18. In the lap 1 he was already 10th. He started to show that these conditions were quite good for him, he had great pace and he was overtaking one rider by another. He was even chasing the riders in the front. In the half of the race he was already on the 6th place and it wasn’t the end yet. He was able to move up and some laps before the finish he was already attacking the podium positions. His ride was absolutely amazing. In lap 20 (from 26) he was already 3rd, he was behind the very experienced Dovizioso but he was couragous enough to try to overtake him! Alex Márquez did great race and he took 2nd place! What a race. Who would guess that we would see the name Márquez in Repsol Honda colors on the podium that soon. With his brother Marc still missing races, it’s a great achievement for Honda. Also, first ever MotoGP podium for Alex. Great job.
Pol Espargaró started from P8, as I’ve already mentioned. Part of the race he was in that second group, he was losing some time to the Ducatis in front but also he had a great pace. For the major part of the race he was racing on the 5th place but in the final stage of the race some other riders had some problems and he was able to fight for podium. He finished 3rd and took another podium for KTM. It was great ride also from him. Good job!
Back to the riders I’ve mentioned earlier. Andrea Dovizioso had great race, it looked like he would be fighting for victory or podium. But in the final few laps his tyres were completely destroyed and he had problems to make it until the end. So he wasn’t able to fight properly for the podium but in the end he finished 4th and he took some very good points to the Championship. All his main title rivals were far away behind him so this could have been an important result for Dovizioso.
Jack Miller was also in a good pace, he was in the leading trio, he looked to be strong. He was fighting for the podium. About 7 laps to go his motorbike had a mechanical problem and Jack had to retire from the race. This was a huge shame. He looked so great in the race, there was a big chance for him to achieve a podium finish.
As I’ve already said there was Alex Rins chasing the three Ducatis in the first half of the race. He had great rhythm and he overtook some rivals to make it up to P2. When there were 9 laps remaining he crashed. He tried to continue but there was something on his bike (was it some label from the track marshals?) and it even got stuck in his wheel so it could bring a danger situation. So he was showed the black flag with the orange disc. He went out of track, stopped and managed to throw this thing away. However, he didn’t finish the race then, at the end of the race he went into the pits.
Back to the beginning of the race. Valentino Rossi had a crash and it’s not good for his Championship now. It’s his 3rd DNF in a row. It’s a shame because now it looks like he has good pace and good speed. However, this caused some problems to some other riders, as I’ve said. Maverick Viñales had a bad start and then he had to avoid the crash of his team mate. He was down to P20. During the race he slowly started to find the rhythm and he started to move places up. In the end he finished 10th and took some points for the Championship.
Also Joan Mir was involved in the Rossi’s incident. He was 16th. He didn’t have very good race, during the race he lost some more positions and he was even down to P19. As the race was going he was able to make some positions and in the final stage of the race he was fighting with Viñales. He finished 11th.
Fabio Quartararo dropped to P4 at the start, during the race he was dropping some more places. All the Yamaha riders had problems in the race, they showed that the conditions weren’t very good for them. In the race Quartararo dropped to 11th place and later he was fighting with Mir and Viñales. It was an interesting battle in the middle of the field as they were the first three riders of the Championship and the main title rivals. Fabio Quartararo was able to win this little fight and he finished the race on the 9th place. But Viñales and Mir were just behind him so they didn’t lose many points on him.
Another local rider Johann Zarco had a good race. He didn’t have the best start but during the race he found a good rhythm and in the end he had a good race as he finished 5th. Also Miguel Oliveira had a good race, for some part of the race he was at the end of the leading group but later he lost some time and in the end of the race he lost a position to Zarco. He was 6th. Also Takaaki Nakagami found a good pace during the race. He started from 13th position and he finished 7th so it was a good progress for him.
Stefan Bradl, who has been replacing Marc Márquez at Repsol Honda, showed that these conditions quite helped him. He showed great performance, he did a good race and he was 8th in the finish.
Brad Binder took some points for 12th place, Francesco Bagnaia had a difficult race but after the bad start he was able to make some positions and he finished 13th. Aleix Espargaró was 14th and he took 2 points for Aprilia, Iker Lecuona was able to finish the race and he was 15th.
Not only Rins, Miller and Rossi had troubles, there were also some other crashes and incidents. Bradley Smith showed that wet race was a good thing for him, he was fighting for Top 10 finish but he crashed. Also his fellow countryman Cal Crutchlow started the race in a good way, he was fighting for Top 6, maybe even better, but also he had a crash. Franco Morbidelli didn’t have very good start, he started from 11th place but after the start he dropped to 17th. He was struggling in the race and about 10 laps to go he crashed. Also Tito Rabat suffered a crash and was unable to finish the race.
This crazy race and these results mean that there are some changes in the Championship standing and everything is still very wide open. Fabio Quartararo keeps the lead, he has 115 points. Joan Mir is still second as he has 105 points. Andrea Dovizioso has moved up to third with 97 points. There is Maverick Viñales behind him, he has 96 points. Top 5 is completed with Takaaki Nakagami who has 81 points.
There is not much time to rest, another race weekend is coming soon. Already this weekend, from 16th to 18th October, the Grand Prix of Aragón will be held.
MotoGP French GP 2020 race results:
Photo: MotoGP
Motorbike racing 